Fantasy Recap: Breaking Down the NBA Trade Deadline Deals for Fantasy Basketball

The trade deadline has come and gone now, and with it comes the potential rise and fall of many players' fantasy values.

In this post, we will try to summarize the biggest winners and losers of the trade deadline deals for fantasy purposes. Keep in mind that some of the winners and losers aren’t even players who were involved in trades, and not everyone involved in a trade is considered a winner or loser. I believe many players being traded, such as Carmelo Anthony, won’t see any significant change in their fantasy value.

Before we break down winners and losers, let’s look at some of the less-heralded deals of the day from yesterday that didn’t qualify for their own post.

Minor Trades

• Semih Erden and Luke Harangody are headed to Cleveland in exchange for some draft picks. Erden is the “prize” of the deal for the Cavs, as they have a legitimate backup center to play behind Anderson Varejao next year when J.J. Hickson goes back to his normal power forward position. Erden potentially holds some future value, but he’s still a non-factor this year. Harangody likely won’t see a whole lot of court time in Cleveland, but it’ll probably be more than in Boston.
• Nazr Mohammed is headed to the Oklahoma City Thunder, where he will most likely serve as a backup to fellow newcomer Kendrick Perkins. Mohammed has had flashes of big play this year, (remember that 20-20 game?), but his value is still likely limited to deep leagues. Headed to Charlotte will be D.J. White and Morris Peterson. Both guys could see more minutes in Charlotte, but neither will likely get enough to make them fantasy relevant.
• Shane Battier is off to Memphis, where he could fill in as the starting small forward with Rudy Gay out, allowing Tony Allen to move back to his more natural shooting guard position. Battier isn’t a serious fantasy contributor, but if he was worth owning in your league in Houston, he’s probably still worth holding onto in Memphis. Hasheem Thabeet leaves for Houston in return. Long term, the Rockets see Thabeet as a potential future center, but in the short term he’ll be battling Chuck Hayes, Brad Miller and Jordan Hill for time and likely won’t make any significant contributions this year.

Now for the winners and the losers of the trade deadline in terms of fantasy value… 

Winners
 

Devin Harris: Going from the New Jersey Nets to the Utah Jazz is certainly an upgrade, and he shouldn’t see any kind of a decline in minutes with the move. The biggest difference will be that Harris will be playing with much more consistent performers and consistent scorers in Paul Millsap, Al Jefferson and C.J. Miles.

Harris should also see better looks and get a chance to work the pick and roll with Jefferson, which could increase his scoring. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Harris average 16 points and clear eight assists per game for the first time in his career.

Marcus Thornton: In Sacramento, Thornton might get a chance to start or at least play steady minutes, something he never was able to do in New Orleans. Tyreke Evans is out for at least a few weeks with his plantar fasciitis—possibly even the rest of the season. Jermaine Taylor has been playing well as his fill-in, but Thornton is a gifted player offensively, and he’ll be given the chance to earn a decent amount of minutes and hopefully make himself fantasy relevant.

Danilo Gallinari: A lot of people think Wilson Chandler was the best player Denver got back in that trade and, in the overall sense, that might be the case. But I think Gallinari is the one who benefits the most, because I think he has the best chance to step up and be the lead scoring threat in Denver now.

I realize Gallinari struggled last night, but I think once he finds his place in this scheme, he can come close to averaging 20 points per game. Gallinari is a flat-out explosive offensive player, and I don’t think he’s just a product of the system in New York. 

Losers
 

Jeff Green: He’s going from starting power forward and No. 3 guy on offense to backup small forward/power forward behind Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett; that cannot be good for his fantasy value.

I assume Green will be pushing it to play 25 minutes per game, and even with that, he won’t likely have quite the same amount of opportunities to score as he had in Oklahoma City. I don’t think this was a good deal for Boston and I don’t think it was a good deal for Jeff Green’s fantasy value either.

Raymond Felton: This guy was running a Mike D’Antoni offensive system, which turns point guards into All-Stars. Now he’s coming off the bench in Denver and trying to find his place.

There was a thought that he’d be traded again, but he wasn’t, and now you have to wonder how many minutes he’s going to get and what kind of production he’ll put up. He could eventually unseat Ty Lawson and become the starter, but even if he does, I don’t think he’ll be able to put up the numbers he did in New York.

Nicolas Batum: There is no question that Gerald Wallace will be stepping right into the starting spot at small forward in Portland and, more likely than not, he’ll be playing a lot of minutes there too.

Batum is headed for the bench and he might be lucky to see 20 minutes per game, especially with Brandon Roy coming back as well. And speaking of Roy, if he comes back healthy and starts playing more minutes on a nightly basis, then Wesley Matthews could be joining this group as well, as he’ll be splitting time on the bench behind two former All-Stars.

Those are my thoughts on the big winners and losers of the trade deadline deals. Who are your winners and losers? Is there anyone you went out and picked up because of a deadline deal? How about someone you dropped because of one?

Give us your thoughts on what has gone down the last few days.

For more fantasy news on the trade deadline deals check out Rotoprofessor where we have a breakdown of all the big deals.